The smoke has cleared and the dust has settled; our take on the Nokia N97

Provided you don’t live under a rock, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve seen the big announcement from Nokia World this morning. That’s right folks, the N97 is upon us – Nokia’s savior – the handset that will propel the Finnish giant back to a more comfortable seat at the top of the mobile world after the intense slide it has taken in 2008. Right?

First things first; the inevitable comparisons with the iPhone. Ugh – when will it stop? Aside from the fact that both handsets have a touchscreen, they really have absolutely nothing else to do with each other. The N97 is infinitely more capable in terms of multimedia creation, multimedia consumption and versatility while the iPhone is infinitely more usable and geared toward the masses. Here in the US, the iPhone’s biggest market, the N97 will have absolutely no impact on its market share. Even if by some miracle Nokia manages to score a carrier agreement for the N97, the time frame will mean that Apple’s third generation iPhone will likely have been released (speculation) and we all know that Nokia couldn’t market a free space heater to an Eskimo here in the US.

Abroad, the N97 will do very well. Carrier agreements throughout Europe and the surrounding regions, subsidized contract pricing, advertising as far as the eye can see – it’ll sell like condoms at the Bunny Ranch… But Apple most definitely won’t be losing any sleep over it. The iPhone is a fantastically-positioned device. It’s sexy, the UI is brilliant and anyone, young or old, can pick one up and use it to its fullest extent in a matter of hours or even minutes. By comparison, S60 is dated, clunky and appeals to a much narrower range of users. Sure, for the time being it is far more capable compared to Apple’s mobile OS, but S60 Touch is hardly the revision Symbian needed to catch up in terms of appearance, usability or wow-factor. The new widget-style home screen UI is great but it’s hardly enough. In terms of appearance, S60 is to the iPhone OS as Unix is to Linux Mint.

So bloggers, please stop. The N97 has nothing to do with the iPhone and no, not every touchscreen device is a potential “iPhone killer”. There were touchscreen handsets before the iPhone and there will continue to be touchscreen handsets for decades to come. Apple’s mobile market share will continue to soar long after the N97 comes and goes. Deal with it.

On to the device itself… In a word, the N97 is sexy – there’s really no question about it. The design is fantastic and the size is perfect. Its 3.5″ 640 x 360 pixel display just begs for multimedia and the N97 can most definitely deliver in that area; after all, it is an Nseries. 32 GB of internal memory plus microSDHC support means there will hardly be a shortage on space for media files. Oh, and Slingbox on the N97? Yes, it will be glorious. As far as form factor goes, Nokia also hit this one out of the park. The tilt-up display is great and results in a much more comfortable typing position than flat sliding displays. The keyboard is sizable and the marriage of QWERTY and a touchscreen is what we will come to expect from any capable smartphone. We would like to have seen Nokia take the next step as far as the camera is concerned since its 5 megapixel Zeiss set it very old news at this point but hey, you can’t have it all. No matter though, WiFi and tri-band WCDMA seal the deal and basically guarantee that you’ll find a few of these bad boys floating around BGR HQ next year.

For clarification sake, this is not the Nseries QWERTY device we saw mock up images of almost a full year ago. At the time, our sources indicated that device was scheduled for release in late 2008 so today’s announcement is a pretty good indication that those plans were either bumped or scrapped completely. Rest assured though, the N97 is far sexier than what we saw so don’t shed any tears just yet. While the N97 is most likely the “Ivalo” referenced on the internal roadmap that was leaked not too long ago, we have a feeling the handset we spoke about might still turn up as the “Eitri”.

Lastly, congrats to Nokia on finally keeping a handset under wraps until it was officially announced. Sure, we might have had an idea that a touchscreen Nseries would be announced this year but that’s pretty much the beginning and end of it. In the end, the N97 is definitely going to be a big hit abroad and S60 fans here in the US will swoon over it as well. Is it going to single-handedly reverse Nokia’s slide? No, but it definitely represents the first stages of a good direction for Nokia to head toward. As much as it would like to think of itself as an internet company, handsets are where Nokia must continue to shine for many years to come if it hopes to remain the beast it is today. The N97 is a good first step.

(As usual, this is posted from my N95 while walking Raki, my 80lb. pit bull. I doubt the iPhone is very comfortable typing while walking without looking with one hand.)

@ Viren,
I’m glad you like the N82. Seems like you know a little about technology. I’d love to talk more. Email me at christexaport@sbcglobal.net. We’re obviously like minded.

@ Mike,
I’m well known on various mobile developer forums, and as a Symbian Freak, Android Freak, Symbian Freak Trusted Beta Tester, xda-developer form member, and analyst for PhoneReport, I know many of the top Symbian, Android, WinMo, multidiscipline, and even a few iPhone SDK developers, and they all have heard of me. Maybe we’ve met? What apps for the iPhone or S60 have you been a part of? I’d love you to contact me via email as well at christexaport@sbcglobal.net.

Now, to be honest, your statement about the two platforms is so uncharacteristic of any developer I’ve ever met. I’ll just respond and try to believe you’re being honest about your credentials, which I am reluctant to believe as truth. Please don’t be offended, and allow me to explain why I feel like this.

“S60 is like comparing a regular phone to a smartphone, with the iPhone being the smartphone.”

Huh?? In the smartphone world, and Nokia speak, a smartphone IS a mobile computer with voice technology, PC skills like multitasking, and an open policy on native apps installation independent of the manufacturer of the OS. The iPhone isn’t all of these, but fit loosely enough, I’ll avoid that argument. The iPhone is publicly recognized as a smartphone. However, the iPhone acts less like any computer I’ve ever used in comparison to S60.

Now before I go further, I’ll get back to some of your mispoints. Desktop quality, or desktop apps? When you can take the Quake III PC game and run it on the iPhone, its just an iPhone. I run Quake III on my N95 8gb.

As for specific apps, this is a developers choice not always driven by the OS capabilities, but financial agreements and training. Most medical apps are written for WinMo anyway, and few for the iPhone. But I’m more impressed that even in the outposts of the Sahara, a young child can use video calling and do emergency surgery on someone all via video streamed via Qik, or a TV show via PiiPTV. Ability to access data at the users will, not Apple’s, is S60’s forte.

But look at the App Store and look at the Symbian app catalog. Where’s the SMB apps, cell network tools, SQL tools, CRM apps? I just see games, apps to mask the weak browser, and animated lighters and popcorn. A few gems, but not many. Hope none of the apps mentioned are your work, as they’re all cool, but nothing to increase productivity like a traditional computer. Exactly what makes an app desktop class to you? I like apps that utilize as much of my processing power and hardware to make my life easy, save time, and increase productivity, all while keeping my PC out of the equation.

Now why isn’t a medical app like you described not possible? What API’s does Symbian lack to do the job? We know its not hardware. TI OMAP is incomparable in this aspect.

Now I did mention alot of software features, but those features are ones iPhone users have begged for from day one! And neither Apple nor the developer community has stepped up. So I believe neither you nor your iPhone developer cohorts are very good at fulfilling user requests. Can’t find any of those software features in the App Store after 2 years.

In contrast, since the N95 came out, we’ve added Flash in browser, ODP, screen rotation, PUSH email, geotagging, threaded messaging, and alot more! The N97 allows copy and paste in the browser, something we asked for. Nokia takes the mobile PC where users want to go, not Apple. Its like Apple has a fighter jet without wings, and won’t allow anyone to make any since they compete with the default wheels. Stupid. What PC company outright stifles such innovation? Oh yeah. Apple, the epitome of walled gardens.

Now let me roast you real quick. The iPhone has sold about 8-10 million devices. The N95 has sold about 15 million, not including the N81, E90, or other high end Nokia, Symbian, and LG S60 devices. That’s why Nokia sells 3x’s what Apple does, even minus featurephones. We’ll see how the numbers skew once the next generation 5th Edition models come out. I’m willing to bet people alot of people opt for a cheaper 5800 or like-priced N97 over the iPhone in markets where they compete. Nokia isn’t dying, its evolving. It needed to slow down to focus on better stuff, and be sure to properly raise the bar. I think they’ve done ok. Still ahead, still better, still able to put out more and absorb minor blows from Apple and RIM. They DID gain marketshare after the iPhone at first, up to 70% at one point! We’ve only released one true flagship and some variants since iPhone’s first phone. Since the 3G, they’ve only done damage in America, and little anywhere else. The big winner was RIM anyway.

Now no one knows what processor the N97 runs, so you sound pretty silly on that note. I suspect either a Tegra or TI OMAP3 setup, which can’t be beat when combined with Symbian! It does more at 350MHz than others do at twice the speed. And AGPS is on all Symbian device with GPS, nothing new except to you and Apple. And the N95 had a glass screen. Capacitive won’t work for cold or missing fingers. Better to do a resistive screen well, which they’ve done. Choice is better, despite what Apple fooled you to believe. Nokia isn’t HTC. They do things right.

The 32gb of memory aren’t a big deal to S60 users. We’ve always had expandable memory. And who wants an Atom processor over an ARM?? Shouldn’t a developer worth his salt know about battery life and power consumption? And we both know Apple is all about thin, and today thin means bad camera. Apple couldn’t spell camera or video if I let them peek in the dictionary!

@ Mr. Hopkins,
I consider the iPhone that hot chick next door. Only thing is when I get close, she’s missing teeth, can’t read, walk and chew gum, or speak English. I’ll pass. I like my girls to be smart, even if she’s a little thick. In fact, I like my girls thick, and my phones the same. Any good camera has depth and thickness, and won’t be very thin anytime soon.

@ JakeyBoy,
Major changes from iPhone 1 to 3G?? Mostly cosmetic changes. Is that how tech companies get down? I review alot of phones of all makes, and probably have as many readers as BGR, so I won’t defer to them. I don’t think they have as much Symbian knowledge as I do anyway. It was us that hacked the S60 3rd Edition OS, for crying out loud. I’m confident in my assessment.

I have experience with the iPhone OS, and am a Symbian specialist with extensive experience since its my OS of choice. I can compare these devices because I know the OS. S60 5th has no code break from 3rd Edition, and besides the Active Standby social widgets and Touch UI, its the same OS that bested the iPhone worldwide before the N97 ever came out.

@ Shaun,
The screen size and resolution of the iPhone don’t match the E90 or my TV. Is it better now? And the UI has little effect on web browsing. All you need is a way to enter URL’s. Was that honestly such a bigger delight on the iPhone? Enough to give up video, web apps, and animation?

I suspect it has alot to do with what sites you commonly browse. I guess iPhone users don’t like web based media, and only know how to pay for it instead via iTunes. That’s something that just struck me. I’m an RSS addict. Alot of my web tastes aren’t media heavy either, as I suspect most bloggers do. Maybe this is why Flash doesn’t matter, so the blog community loves it. It’s great for browsing analysis sites and news feeds. This is also why the iPhone is big for Facebook, and not the more media savvy MySpace. Tastes…

You need to learn that video is everywhere, not just iTunes. Why can we find so much video online on the desktop, but not the mobile? I say the limitations of where you can go with the browser and the iTunes dependence are to blame, and not a limitation for my device.

Sounds like the N97 will end your iPhone fancy, unless iTunes and the N97 don’t play nice. Many S60 users have figured ways of using their iTunes stuff on the N95, so it shouldn’t be an issue.

http://www.symbian-freak.com christexaport

since the iPhone to iPhone 3G upgrades are considered major, what are the N93 to N95 to N97 upgrades called? Revolutions? Nokia adds real progress, while Apple tries to make it cuter, cheaper and easier to fix. Hardware and software basically stayed the same on the iPhone. Imagine if you bought a PC that only added a different case and AGPS that everyone already had before anyway? Not a fail, but epic FARCE!

http://www.k5live.com likeabite

@ Christexaport That’s also my thought process but I guess not everyone sees it that way. The only real difference I see between the two iphones is just 3G…few people even notice the aGPS chip and its use because it has become a mass consumption device with many of its users not knowing exactly what it can do. That is probably why people just refer to both of them as the iPhone…you can’t show anyone an iphone or an iphone 3g and ask them for the name and they’ll say “oh that’s the iphone 3G”…just won’t happen. Most people, even in the tech world call both the iPhone and refer to them as such when listing it’s accomplishments or its marketshare, like it was only one device that did so. However, there has been two iphones and instead of acknowledging that most people say such nonsense like “the iPhone alone beat all of RIM’s lineup or took most of Nokia’s marketshare.”

Dan T

iPhone OS is a desktop class OS, but without real multi-tasking and a lot of other limitations? C’mon. There is no Google Earth (yet) for Nokia because Nokia has it’s own Nokia Maps which is in competition with Google Maps (and I think will be soon competing with Google Earth too). You might not know this, but Google Maps can’t do a simple route in a lot of European countries because it lacks the details. It is very detailed for US, I agree, but for other parts of the world is still a lot behind. Don’t get me wrong, I love Google Maps and even more Google Earth, but they are too focused on US, while Nokia Maps is focused on Europe. Many times I was searching very well known european cities on Google Maps and Google showed as first options some small US cities with similar names.
A-GPS is an old feature on Nokias, not new to N97. And as far as I know iPhone does not even have a GPS navigation application with voice guidance.
I have no problem with iPhone, just that in this part of Europe a Nokia seems a better choice. The way the phones are sold here is very different to US, the internet and voice plans are cheaper, the covering of 3G/HSDPA is bigger. So makes no sense paying $70 for a special iPhone plan. And the iPhone is 50% more expensive than in USA. What is the point in buying a phone tied to a $70 monthly plan when you can have exactly the same at $30 for your Nokia or other phone? Paying $500 more a year does not seem to make sense just for owning a legally buyed iPhone. Maybe if you buy the iPhone on the black market, unlock it … might make sense. But I guess it is a good buy in USA where regular internet and voice plans are not so much cheaper than the special iPhone ones and the iPhone is also few hundred dollars cheaper that here.

Hmmmm….

…and the winner is…. Nokia n97!! Yay!!! Major slapdown for the iphone! D’oh!

way to hit the nail on the head! The iphone is geared especially for the Homer Simpson type! Big buttons and a UI laid out so he dosen’t have to think too hard. No wonder the American public laps it up. Dumb it down for the masses. What a joke.

JakeyBoy

@ Christexaport
have you ever taken a 1st or 2nd gen iPhone apart and compared?

@Hmmmm:
Big buttons? there is only 1 button, 1 switch and one volume toggle. I suppose next you are going to tell the iPhone is design over function….
The GUI is brilliant, and yes it flows so one dosen’t have to think about it too hard. Ease of use. Looks like you are the one who hit the nail on the head this time. Way to go, gold star for you. You can have your Nokia and eat it too…

Hmmmm….

Oh, I stand corrected ‘one button.’ A mini computer with ‘one button.’ How funny is this toy that the fans come up with it has one button, as a plus?!? Lol! That’s really funny. Take it back to the toy store, er… app store and get another dud to play with. ‘mini computer’…. ha ha ha!